Rafah bombed, 1.5 mn lives in jeopardy

Cairo/Rafah: Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said, even after U.S. President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launched a major invasion of the southern Gaza city, reports Reuters.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians attempted to flee Rafah as Israel shelled the eastern area of the city sheltering some 1.5 million people. Israel’s continued closure of the Rafah border crossing is “choking off the entry of life-saving aid into Gaza”, says the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

As ceasefire talks continued in Cairo, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired antitank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks massed on the eastern outskirts of the city.

Residents and medics in Rafah, the biggest urban area in Gaza not yet overrun by Israeli ground forces, said an Israeli attack near a mosque killed at least three people and wounded others in the neighbourhood.

Video footage from the scene showed the minaret lying in the rubble, two bodies wrapped in blankets and a wounded man being carried away.

On the city’s eastern edge, residents said a helicopter opened fire, while drones hovered above houses in several areas, some close to rooftops.

Ceasefire talks in Egypt’s capital made some headway but no deal was reached, according to two Egyptian security sources, reports Reuters. (AP)